I'd Lie
by MotherCrumpet
Summary: Katie Bell and Oliver Wood have always been best friends, but when the subject of love comes up.... well, Katie Bell lies through her teeth.


_You know the deal. I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I wish I did, because then I'd be brilliant, but sadly, I do not have the genius of J K Rowling and must borrow her characters._

_**I'd Lie**_

_**a oneshot by Mother Crumpet featuring Oliver Wood and Katie Bell.**_

Katie Bell sat on the roof of the locker rooms, swinging her feet over the edge like a five-year-old whose feet couldn't quite reach the ground. She heard footsteps and glanced up to see Oliver Wood, her next-door neighbor and best friend standing behind her. She leaned back against his legs and looked up at him with a grin, "Hey Ollie."

"Hey Kates." Oliver rolled his eyes, letting the nickname slide. He'd told her a thousand times not to call him 'Ollie', but it never made any difference. "Budge over."

Katie scooted over to make room for Oliver. "What's up? You only come out here with me when you're upset about something."

"I'm not upset." Oliver frowned. "I'm frustrated. I don't understand why girls are so damn confusing."

Katie rolled her eyes, once again struck by the fact that Oliver seemed oblivious of her gender. "What now?"

"Nothing. That's the problem." Oliver thought for a second. "You know, I've decided I'm never going to fall in love. It seems like a rather idiotic move."

"You're a prick." Katie snorted. "How exactly does falling in love seem like an idiotic move? Most people long for their wedding day. My mum has been planning mine since I learned to say the word 'boy' for Merlin's sake."

"I know, because my mum is planning along with her. They're dead set on us getting married someday. It's ridiculous. Especially since I'm not ever going to fall in love. I'm avoiding it really."

"You're an idiot."

"I am not! I'm being quite reasonable. Think about it. As a professional Quidditch player next year, I'm not exactly going to be around a lot. I'm going to have so many training sessions that it'll be ridiculous. Plus, I'm going to be surrounded by all those gorgeous girls, who wants to be tied down when that opportunity presents itself? Plus girls are real nutters when it comes to relationships."

"That's a rather generalized statement, Ol." Katie shook her head. "I still think you're being stupid. It isn't like you have any choice about falling in love."

"That's why I'm avoiding any girl I think I could fall in love with like the plague. I'm not getting suckered into a relationship right now. Maybe in a couple years, things will change."

"Honestly, I think you're the nutter." Katie hopped up. "I have to meet Fred and George for dinner. I lost a bet with Alicia and Angelina, so I've got pre-detention babysitting tonight. You'd think their girlfriends would be more supportive, but nope. Instead they throw the twins at me to keep out of trouble."

"I'll come with you." Oliver stood up so that he was towering over Katie. "You make me feel really tall."

"Try standing next to a freaking giant all the time. I swear you're still growing Oliver. This is ridiculous. You're already a good foot taller than me."

Oliver shrugged and gestured for Katie to go down the spiral staircase that descended from the roof first. "What was the bet about?"

"I bet that Snape would fail me on my potion today. Surprisingly, I actually got a good mark for once. I thought they were nutters for taking the bet in the first place, but apparently my potion did look as wonderfully banana yellow as Alicia said. I don't get it. I didn't even try today."

"Oh, Angelina told me that she switched your potion with Alicia's when you weren't looking. They're trying to get you to pass potions so that you don't fail out of school or some such nonsense."

"I'm not going to fail out of school. Just potions." Katie sounded defensive. "Which reminds me. How about helping me after dinner?"

"We have Quidditch."

"It's five. We don't have Quidditch until nine so that Fred and George can be there. It isn't going to take us four hours to eat dinner, Ollie."

"Would you stop calling me 'Ollie'? Seriously Kates, it's obnoxious. You know Great Aunt Matilda calls me that and pinches my cheeks every time she sees me. It actually hurts. She has these really long, sharp fingernails."

"That's why I call you that, you moron." Katie flashed a devious grin at Oliver and ducked before he could grab her. "Your mum told you never to hit girls!"

"You don't count, Bell." Oliver grimaced. "You aren't a girl, you're a little demon child. I'm pretty positive you were switched with a changeling at birth."

"Ooooh. Oliver Andrew Wood, I'm telling your mother! She's going to be pissed at you for making fun of me like that."

"She always takes your side, even when you deserve it. Damn you, Katherine Virginia Bell. Even my mum likes you better than me."

"Katie!" Fred jogged up and threw one arm around her. "You brought Oliver to join the fun."

"Katie-kate," George threw an arm around her from the other side, successfully trapping her between the pair. "That wasn't very nice. You know he's been chewing us out for getting detention every chance he gets."

"You two ruined the sleep schedule of everyone on the team with that detention. You're putting us at jeopardy for lowered immune systems and sickness! We cannot afford that at this point in the season!" Oliver shot the twins a dirty look. "If my team gets sick, it'll be your heads."

"Ol, it's still summer outside. We don't have a match for months. It's going to be okay." Katie laughed.

"See, Oliver, we don't deserve your criticism this early. If we were to do this in December, it'd be a different story." Fred started.

"Yes, I agree. When we do the same thing in December you can yell at us all you want." George nodded his agreement with his twin.

"You're going to drag Katie down with you and it'll somehow be my fault." Oliver warned.

"It's because your mum likes me best." Katie teased as she shrugged out from between Fred and George. "You know it's true."

"I just don't see how." Oliver took a seat at the Gryffindor table, and Katie plopped down beside him.

"Hey Oliver!" Aimee McLean, a blonde seventh year Gryffindor, called down the table, "How about that Charms essay?"

"I finished my last weekend." Oliver shrugged. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"I've been pushing it back, and now I just don't understand what exactly we're supposed to be writing about. Do you think you could help me with it tonight?" Aimee batted her big blue eyes.

"Sorry," Oliver shook his head. "I have to help Katie with Potions before she fails, and then we've got Quidditch practice."

"Oh." Aimee turned back to her friends, obviously not getting the reaction she was hoping for.

Katie bit back a small grin of satisfaction, "She one of those girls you're staying away from?"

"Aimee? Nope. She's just… annoying." Oliver scooped some beans onto his plate and passed them to the twins.

"Don't you want some, Katie-kate?" George piped up.

"Yeah, Oliver, you always should offer some to the ladies." Fred added. "Speaking of the ladies, what is this Katie says about you avoiding girls?"

"She doesn't like beans." Oliver answered, ignoring the second question.

"Merlin, you are as dense as a brick wall." Fred and George shared a meaningful look. "When d'you reckon they'll figure it out?"

"Could be years." George looked at Katie, "She knows. He'll take a while to come around. Stubborn lad, that one."

"What are you nutters talking about now?" Oliver asked, not noticing that Katie looked somewhere between murderous and embarrassed.

"Nothing." Fred and George chimed, waving innocently to Professor McGonagall as she passed the table. She eyed them suspiciously, but kept going.

"What did you do now?" Katie asked, quickly taking advantage of the subject change.

"Nothing for once." George grinned devilishly. An identical grin spread across Fred's face. "She'll be so paranoid by the end of the week, we'll get Saturday detention."

"Don't let it interfere with Quidditch." Oliver warned.

"Or you'll be sorry." Katie parroted, causing the twins to laugh. Oliver gave her a dirty look, which quickly turned to a laugh.

"You sound like Marcus Flint." Oliver snorted. "I do not sound like that."

"You do too. I've been told I do a marvelous Oliver Wood impression. People have said they wouldn't be able to tell the difference if I wasn't so much prettier that the real thing."

"See you at Quidditch." Fred interrupted, giving Katie a significant look.

"Try and get some kind of progress." George added with a snort. "But don't do anything I wouldn't."

"Don't you have detention to get to?" Katie scowled. Oliver raised a questioning eyebrow and Katie shook her head. "I think George just told me not to do my homework."

"Just because they have detention doesn't mean you should." Oliver stood up. "Let's go get this potions knocked out of the way."

Katie leaned back and looked up at him skeptically. "I thought you were only using that as an excuse to avoid Aimee McLean. Didn't you tell me earlier that you didn't have time to help me?"

"I lied." Oliver shook his head. "I have plenty of time for you."

"You're weird sometimes, know that?" Katie stood up. She noticed Aimee McLean giving her a dirty look and raised a questioning eyebrow in the girl's direction. Sure, the girl was after Oliver and Katie was spending time with him, but she had no reason to loathe Katie so much.

"C'mon Kates." Oliver grabbed her hand and tugged her out of the great hall. Then he kept hold of her hand all the way to Gryffindor Tower, earning questioning looks from the majority of the school's population along the way. Perhaps there was something Aimee McLean should fear from Katie Bell after all.

* * *

"Isn't Oliver's birthday coming up soon?" Alicia asked late that night after practice. "D'you reckon he'll cancel Quidditch practice?"

"It's Friday, the seventeenth." Katie supplied. "And no on the Quidditch cancellation. I already tried. We're sneaking into Hogsmeade right after though. I'm inviting the whole team and his other friends will be there. I think Cameron is going to come too."

"Should I get him something?" Angelina frowned. "I think he has everything Quidditch themed that I can afford. What are you getting him Kates?"

"Dunno. I'll think of something." Katie shrugged.

"Wait. Cameron is coming?" Angelina scowled. "Now we'll never get any attention. Everyone always pays too much attention to Cameron Wood."

"She's just so pretty." Alicia sighed. "With her long wavy brown hair and those big brown eyes. There's nobody else that can compete with her."

"Funny. I'd never noticed that before. I mean, I'd noticed Cameron was gorgeous, but I didn't notice that she commanded a room like that." Katie looked up from the magazine she was flipping through.

"That's because the only boy you've ever paid any attention to happens to be the only one immune to her charms, her brother." Angelina snorted.

"Not true." Katie shook her head. "He's my best friend, that's all. He's like my brother. We grew up together."

"Yeah. And Fred is like my brother." Angelina's voice dripped with sarcasm, but Katie didn't hear her. Alicia shot her a warning look and shook her head slightly. Eventually Katie would admit that Oliver was far more than her best friend, but until then it was always best not to push it.

* * *

"My goodness. If it isn't little Katherine Bell!" Cameron Wood hugged Katie tightly. "I'm so glad that I could make it here for Oliver's birthday. I haven't seen him since Easter, and I haven't seen you since the summer before that. Where have you been? You're looking so much older these days, and your hair is so long. I almost didn't recognize you!"

"My own sister greets you before she greets me." Oliver shook his head and gave his big sister a hug. "Katie didn't tell me you were coming, Cam!"

"She wanted to keep it a surprise." Cameron looked carefully between the pair. Oliver had draped his arm over Katie's shoulder and given her a brief squeeze, then left his arm casually draped around her shoulders. Katie grinned up at him. Cameron decided to wait to question her little brother about his relationship with Katie Bell.

"Are there any other surprises I should know about?" Oliver asked, raising an eyebrow. "D'you have anyone else hidden away?"

Katie shook her head, and was about to respond when Aimee McLean laid a hand on Oliver's arm.

"Happy Birthday, Oliver." Aimee smiled at him.

"Thanks." Oliver grinned back. "Hey, have you met my sister, Cameron?"

"Hi." Aimee barely smiled at Cameron before dismissing her. "Would you care to dance, Oliver? I thought this was a party."

Oliver shrugged, "Why not? Kates, keep Cameron out of trouble, will you?"

Katie didn't even bother to reply as Oliver headed off to dance with Aimee. She met Cameron's questioning glance, and knew exactly what she was thinking. It was the same thing that everyone thought when they saw the pair together. "We're not together."

"Funny, you could have fooled me." Cameron's eyes twinkled with amusement and she glanced at her brother dancing with Aimee McLean.

"Hey Cameron." Oliver's roommate, Jason Upchurch, approached Cameron tentatively. "Would you like to dance?"

"I would." Cameron smiled brightly. "I'll talk to you later, Katie. Trust me, he'll come around."

"I don't know-" Katie started, but Cameron was already gone. She wouldn't be lacking for a dance partner for the rest of the night. Katie, on the other hand….

"Sorry Katie, you're pretty, but you're Oliver's girl."

"I'm not-" Katie tried to explain, but nobody listened to her. She couldn't decide if she thought it was cute that his friends wanted to protect her, or if she was annoyed that they thought she was Oliver's girlfriend.

"Hey Kates!" Oliver dropped into the seat beside her. Katie had taken to sitting sullenly by herself and watching everyone else dancing. The Wood siblings were the center of attention, as always.

"Having a good party?" Katie asked, instantly brightening.

"I am. Thanks, Katie. Why aren't you dancing and enjoying yourself? You planned this whole thing. You deserve to enjoy it more than anyone else."

"I am enjoying it." Katie insisted.

"Then come dance with me." Oliver grabbed Katie's hand and tugged her out of the booth. "Katie, remember how I said that I'd never fall in love?"

"Yes." Katie's heart beat a little faster.

"Well, maybe I spoke a little too rashly." Oliver laughed. "I think I'm going to ask Aimee out."

"Really." Katie tried to sound excited and interested, but a lead weight settled in her stomach. "She must have made some impression on you."

"Not really. That's why I'm asking her out." Oliver twirled Katie around. "I don't foresee any danger of falling in love with Aimee McLean."

Katie raised an eyebrow. "Then why date her, Ollie?"

"Katie, do you love me?" Oliver asked suddenly. He stopped dancing, and Katie stared back at him in shock.

"I-uh." Katie blinked. She knew that the truth was that she did, but she was unsure if that was what she should say.

"See, that's what I was afraid of." Oliver grinned, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Katie was too preoccupied to notice. He started dancing again, twirling her around. "Don't worry Kates, you'll always be my best friend."

"I know." Katie smiled hesitantly at him. She couldn't believe that Oliver knew she was in love with him and that he didn't reciprocate the feeling. It was with a sudden fear that she returned to her seat after the song ended and watched as Oliver danced with Aimee McLean, a fear she had never experienced before. She was afraid of being alone.

"Katie?" Cameron slipped into the seat across from Katie. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." Katie looked up at Cameron, unable to hide the panic that was spreading across her face. "Enjoying yourself?"

"You don't look alright." Cameron frowned, ignoring Katie's feeble attempt to change the subject. "Did my idiot brother say something to you?"

"Nothing to upset me. Only that he's going to ask out Aimee McLean."

"He's what?" Cameron roared, fixing her brother with the nastiest look anyone had ever received. "I don't understand him. He's such an idiot. Katie, he's so in love with you, he must be scared out of his mind. I can't think of another explanation. He'll come around."

Katie shook her head fiercely. "He made it pretty clear that we're never going to be more than friends."

"Katie, you have to tell him how you feel about him."

"He knows." Katie bit her lip, feeling a wave of nausea mixed with open panic sweep through her. "Oh Cameron, he knows. He swears he's never going to fall in love, been talking adamantly about it all week."

"Katie, do you love my brother?" Cameron asked, trying to build up Katie's defense. She didn't understand what was happening. If Oliver knew that Katie was as in love with him as he obviously was with her, there shouldn't be a problem.

Katie jumped up so quickly that Cameron had no time to stop her, and then she lied through her teeth. "No."

"Katie!" Cameron knew Katie's response reeked of falsehood, but the girl was gone; Katie had already abandoned the party she had worked so hard on.

"Where'd Katie go?" Oliver asked, concern evident in his voice as he hurried over to the table. "I just saw her go sprinting out. Is she okay?"

"No you jackass, she's not alright." Cameron glared at her brother. "You're so stupid. I cannot believe you just tossed her aside like that. I've never seen anyone look that lost before."

"What are you talking about?" Oliver looked almost as panicked as Katie had before she ran out. "I don't understand. Is she okay?"

"No, but she will be." Cameron stood up. "She headed back to the school."

Oliver looked only slightly relieved. "I should go check on her. Is she sick?"

"She won't want to see you." Cameron shook her head. The look on Katie's face haunted her. She had never been faced with true heartbreak before. "What's this about Aimee McLean?"

"Yeah, I'm going to ask her out." Oliver still appeared overly concerned about Katie, but he let the subject drop, assuming she was violently ill and didn't want to get him sick. "She's really nice. You'll like her."

"I doubt it; She isn't Katie." Cameron muttered so that Oliver couldn't hear. Though she knew her little brother was making the dumbest mistake of his life, she couldn't bring herself to meddle in the situation. He'd only believe that Katie was in love with him if he realized it for himself. She knew he didn't believe Katie actually loved him; there was simply no other explanation. Yes, there was no doubt. This mess was all his.

* * *

"Katie!" Oliver had finally cornered her. It had taken him a week, but he'd managed to do it. "You haven't needed help with potions. I take it that means class is going well."

"Nope." Katie said dully. "I'm beyond help at this point. Fred reckons I'm going to be the first person to ever earn an actual 'T' on something."

"I don't think grades actually go that low." Oliver laughed uncertainly.

"Oh, trust me. I didn't believe it either, but now I've gotten a whole string. Grades that low do exist. You'd never see them, but I do."

"Are you feeling better?" Oliver changed the subject quickly. "Feel up to Quidditch tonight?"

"Yeah." Katie spotted Aimee McLean making a beeline for Oliver. "Look, your girlfriend is coming. I get the distinct impression that she doesn't like me, plus I have class."

"Katie!" Oliver called after her, but she had disappeared down one of the many passageways she had learned from years of hanging around the Weasley twins. He cursed, unsure of what had his best friend so upset, but instinctively knowing it had something to do with him.

* * *

Katie did show up for Quidditch that night, but her heart wasn't in it. Her mood affected the team so much that Oliver let them go nearly an hour early. Katie tromped off without changing, and without Oliver being able to catch her and force her into conversation. That was the night he cornered her in the Common Room.

"Katherine Virginia Bell." Oliver sat down beside her at the table, effectively trapping her so she couldn't go anywhere. He gave Alicia and Angelina looks that clearly told them to scram. With apologetic looks in Katie's direction, the pair fled as quickly as possible. "What the hell did I do?"

"Why do you assume you did something?" Katie suddenly became intensely interested in her potions homework that she had previously been doodling on.

"Oh, probably because you're avoiding me like the Hippogriff Plague." Oliver snatched her potions homework and quill. "So I'm going to ask you again. What in the bloody hell did I do?"

Katie's eyes snapped up to meet his. They sparkled with either anger or tears; it was hard to tell. Oliver winced, recognizing that she was hurt by something that he had done. Her eyes were only that green if she'd been crying a lot.

"Kate." Oliver squeezed her hand gently. "I'm sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am."

"Do you even know why you're apologizing?" Katie demanded, her voice miraculously even.

Oliver shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You're hurt, that's all that matters."

"Oliver, you are so dense sometimes." Katie shook her head. "I cannot believe this right now. Know what? I don't want to talk about this right now. Move."

"Not until you explain to me what it is that I'm missing."

"Move." Katie crossed her arms. "Move, or I'll be forced to climb over you."

"I'd like to see you try." Oliver met her gaze fiercely until she dropped it. "Are you going to tell me why I'm so dense now?"

"Hey Oliver!" Aimee came skipping over, giving Katie the dirtiest look anyone had ever received.

"Aimee, now isn't a good time." Oliver said through his teeth, not taking his eyes off Katie. "I'll find you later."

"Actually." Katie stood up on top of her chair and climbed over the table. "Now would be a great time."

"Katie." Oliver growled, catching hold of her wrist. "You aren't going anywhere until you talk to me. Aimee, go away."

"Leave me alone, Oliver." Katie twisted out of his grasp.

"You've never kept things from me like this." Oliver called after her as she dashed up the stairs.

"Yeah? Well there's a first time for everything." Katie choked out, before disappearing into her room.

"Well." Aimee stood there, arms crossed. "What was that about?"

"Didn't I tell you to go away?" Oliver stood up and stormed out of the Common Room.

* * *

Katie avoided Oliver for another week, and he was beginning to wonder if she would ever forgive him for whatever it was he had done when she came up to him one day in the hallway.

"Hey Ollie?" She asked, popping up on his right. "I'm, er, well, I'm failing potions. If I don't get my grade up by next week, McGonagall is kicking me off the team."

"Sorry?" Oliver felt an odd mix of relief, fury, and bliss. "You're talking to me again?"

"Oh." Katie's face dropped for a second. "I thought…"

"Thought what?" Aimee spat from Oliver's other side. She was fully aware that Katherine Virginia Bell was the only thing that would always come first in Oliver's life, other than Quidditch of course. And though it had never been tested, Aimee had a hunch that Katie beat Quidditch.

"Aimee, give me a second with Katie, will you?" Oliver glanced at his girlfriend who was scowling unattractively.

"Of course." Aimee sent a wicked smirk in Katie's direction and kissed Oliver firmly before sauntering down the hall.

"Well, that's new." Oliver frowned slightly and quickly turned his attention back to Katie. "What's this about failing Potions?"

"I'm failing pretty thoroughly." Katie said, following Oliver into one of the many hidden nooks and crannies in Hogwarts. "I have a week to pull up my grade or I'm off the team."

"A week?" Oliver knit his eyebrows together. "How bad is it, Kates?"

"Er." Katie bit her lip. "McGonagall said I could get held back, and she refused to be the one to tell you."

"Katie, how did this happen? I thought you were doing better."

"I don't exactly get along with Snape. Sometimes he spills my potion on purpose when I go to turn it in. I think that's because of the prank Fred and George pulled with spiking my cheering drought two weeks ago."

"Is there any way we can pull it up?"

"If I get an O on the test next Monday, I'll have the lowest passing grade possible." Katie refused to meet Oliver's gaze. "So no."

"Well we're going to have to give it a hell of a try." Oliver grabbed her bag from her. "C'mon Katie. You're done with class, right?"

"What do you mean, we?" Katie's head snapped up and she met Oliver's gaze. There was something there that she couldn't place. It looked suspiciously like the glow everyone said they had when they were around each other.

"You're not going to get an O out of this unless I help you." Oliver laughed. "C'mon, we have a ton of work to get done."

Oliver put his arm around Katie's shoulder and the pair headed straight for the library. Oliver dropped their books on a table tucked in the back corner of the library and sat down gesturing for Katie to sit beside him. "Alright, what's the problem?"

"Everything!" Katie pulled out Alicia's notes that Katie had 'borrowed' while Alicia wasn't paying attention. "I don't even know what we're supposed to be learning about, Ol. It's like I walk into that classroom and even the names of the most basic potion ingredients exit my head."

"Are these Alicia's notes?" Oliver looked over the neat, girlish writing. "They sure as hell aren't yours."

"Haha." Katie leaned over to look at the notes with Oliver. "Are you sure that Snape doesn't speak some sort of alternate language? Maybe I'm just not fluent."

"Pretty sure he's not bilingual." Oliver scooted his chair closer so that they could both look at the notes at the same time. "Alright, let's get to work."

Four hours later, the pair had missed dinner and had to run to get to Quidditch practice. Katie's brain felt dangerously close to exploding and her stomach growled as the team gathered for warm-ups.

"From now on, we study in the bloody kitchens." Katie moaned, tossing the Quaffle to Oliver with a lack of effort. "Mum always told me to never skip a meal for a boy, I would think the same applied to schoolwork."

"You have a week to get that grade up." Oliver rolled his eyes. "I think you'll survive. You're less than half my size, and I'm doing fine."

"That just means I run out of nutrients faster." Katie complained. The rest of the team looked back and forth in confusion, but none dared to ask why the two were suddenly talking again, like nothing had ever happened. They were too used to the pairs' odd fights to bother caring. Plus, nobody was dumb enough to draw the wrath of Katie Bell.

* * *

Oliver called practice off early again that night, but not because the team was having such a horrible practice. He announced that they all needed to focus on their schoolwork for a week, shooting a meaningful look in Katie's direction.

"You're doing that bad?" George snorted. Katie punched him in the arm. "Ouch! It's not my fault!"

"Actually, it is." Katie hit him again, and then turned on his twin. "If you hadn't spiked that bloody potion then I wouldn't be failing this badly."

"Right, sorry about that Katie-Kate." Fred grinned sheepishly. "I didn't realize it would have quite that permanent of an effect."

George grimaced in what he hoped was an apologetic manner and nursed his arm.

"C'mon Katie." Oliver grabbed Katie's arm and dragged her out of the locker room. "We'd better get back to work."

"Do we have to?" Katie moaned. "I feel like my head is going to explode. And my stomach is eating itself."

"We'll study in the kitchens this time." Oliver rolled his eyes. "Just for a little while longer tonight. Then all afternoon again tomorrow."

"This is going to kill me. I'm positive." Katie smacked her forehead. "I'd rather be in the Hospital Wing."

"No you wouldn't." Oliver laughed. "You hate the Hospital Wing more than anything."

"Shut up." Katie tickled the pear and opened the door into the kitchens. "What's next on the agenda?"

"Well, you've got a lot more work to do. We're going to have to cover a bunch of material pretty quickly." Oliver froze as soon as he stepped into the kitchens; Aimee was sitting with some of her friends, their backs to the door.

"I just don't understand why that little whore doesn't understand that he's with me and back off." Aimee was saying. Her friends nodded their agreement dutifully. "She completely made up some story about failing potions and getting kicked off the Quidditch team so that he'd have to help her."

Oliver cleared his throat loudly, causing the girls to turn around in surprise. He raised an eyebrow. "I think we're through."

Aimee's face dropped faster than you could say Quidditch. "What?"

Katie glanced up at Oliver, not meeting his eyes. "I'm going to go. I've got a lot of shit to learn in the next week."

"Hold on, I'm coming too." Oliver looked at Aimee. "A word to the wise, don't ever call your boyfriend's best friend a whore."

"That's not what I meant!" Aimee exclaimed. "Oliver can we please talk about this?"

"Stay, talk to her." Katie slipped out of the door before Oliver could say anything else. The yelling started after she rounded the corner. Katie covered her ears and hurried to Gryffindor Tower. As much as she hated that Aimee had Oliver, she didn't want him to be unhappy.

* * *

"Aimee is going to help me today." Oliver announced the next day. He sat next to Katie and Aimee sat across from her. Apparently, the two were as good as ever. Katie scowled.

"How do you not understand this?" Aimee asked. "I mean, so that I can help explain it in a way that you do understand."

Katie gave her a dirty look and ignored the question completely. She bent over her potions homework and worked silently. Oliver read over her shoulder and occasionally corrected things. After a while, Oliver started packing his stuff up. Katie looked at him questioningly.

"It's Friday night. You seem to be doing alright with this, so I'm going to go." Oliver winked at her. "You know where I am if you need me."

"I'd rather not." Katie muttered as the pair walked away. Aimee stuck her tongue out at Katie as they walked away. Katie scowled deeply, not wanting to know why they were still together. She had a sinking suspicion it was because Oliver still didn't want to fall in love, and more so because Aimee was willing to do anything to keep Oliver away from Katie. The siren looked happier than she really should. Katie lay her head down on her parchment with a sigh. It was Friday night. She really shouldn't be stuck working on Potions right now.

"I thought I was the only one in the library." Cedric Diggory slid into the seat beside Katie. She sat up and looked at him blankly, not sure how to respond. Thankfully, he continued talking seamlessly, "Wood has been working you to death all week. What's going on?"

"If I don't get an O on my potions test on Monday, then McGonagall says I'm off the team." Katie shrugged. "It doesn't matter how hard I work, I doubt it'll make much difference."

Diggory started to laugh. "Sorry. It really isn't funny, it's just you have ink all over the side of your face. I can't take you seriously like that."

Katie groaned. "That'll stay there for days! Merlin what a horrid week. I've always wanted a tattoo, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind."

"I can get it off with a pretty simple charm if you'd like." Diggory offered. "And then if you need help with your potions, I've always been pretty good in that class. I don't have anything better to do. Guess I'm not as lucky as Wood."

"Why do you say that?" Katie was half-aware of the fact that Cedric Diggory seemed to be flirting with her.

He thought the question over as he removed the ink from her face. "If I had a girl as pretty as you for my best friend, I wouldn't be dating that bitch, Aimee McLean."

"Thanks." Katie grinned at Diggory, unsure exactly what was going on. "D'you think you could help me with some potions maybe? I'm supposed to be working on Midnight Brews."

"Sure thing." He winked at her. "Nobody other than another Quidditch player would understand why you're working so hard. Midnight Brews are tricky, but there's an easy way to remember what order the ingredients have to go in…."

* * *

By Sunday afternoon, Katie was studying half the time with Oliver and half the time with Diggory. Diggory would come join her after he noticed Oliver slip off with Aimee. Then he'd make himself scarce when Oliver returned. The two had never gotten along, and Diggory preferred if Oliver didn't think he was trying to make Katie fail so that Hufflepuff could have the upper hand at Quidditch.

"That's about all we can do, Kates." Oliver announced Sunday at dinnertime. "Let's go get something to eat and make sure you get plenty of sleep tonight."

"Good luck." Diggory whispered as Katie and Oliver passed him on their way out of the library. Katie mouthed thank you and kept walking.

"He's been in there all week." Oliver frowned. "I wonder what he's up to."

"I think he's working on some top secret Quidditch move." Katie rolled her eyes. "Obviously it requires a lot of magic preparation and research."

"Haha. Very funny."

Katie spotted Aimee in front of them in the hallway and sighed. Aimee was talking loudly about something that Katie couldn't quite make out. Katie hoped she lost her voice.

"Oliver's actually really good in bed for a beginner." Aimee was telling a whole group of her girlfriends. "I'm teaching him everything I can and it's paying off for both of us. Hopefully I'll get some more pointers from Rick next week."

Oliver turned scarlet and tugged at his shirt collar, but looked almost proud. Katie blanched, her face whiter than Nearly Headless Nick, "On second thought, there's something else I need to go over. I'll see you later." Katie dashed down a side hallway and then through a tapestry into the stairway with the disappearing stair. She hopped over it and sat on the very top step. The stairway wasn't used very often and she was hoping to just have time to herself.

"Kates." Oliver sat down beside her.

She jumped and hit her head on the banister. "Ouch! Just sneak up on a person why don't you?"

"What's wrong?"

"If you don't know why I've been so upset with you, then there's no possible way for me to explain." Katie refused to look at him.

"I thought we could talk about anything."

"We shouldn't have to talk about this!" Katie threw her hands up in the air. "You knew how I felt about you, and you started dating Aimee McLean anyway. Do you realize she just admitted she was cheating on you? I understand, I'm just going to have to get over you and move on with my life. Cedric Diggory has been helping me with my potions while you were too busy fucking Aimee; I bet he'd be a nice safe option. No risk of falling in love with him."

"What?"

"I can't talk about this." Katie stood up and was gone before Oliver could even process what was going on let alone stop her. He sat, stunned, in the stairwell, wondering if he had really read their relationship that horribly wrong.

* * *

Katie woke with a start as the slamming of the portrait hole echoed through the common room. She sat straight up, cursing that she had let herself fall asleep in the first place. What if she missed him? Oliver never missed Quidditch practice and nobody had seen him since she had talked to him the night before. Needless to say, Katie was more than a little bit worried.

"Oliver?" Katie peered through the dim light, trying to figure out who had just come in.

"Hey Kates." Oliver's voice sounded slightly raspy, but there was no doubt about his identity.

"Where have you been?" Katie asked with a frown.

"Hogsmeade." Oliver stepped into the moonlight and Katie got a clear look at his slightly disheveled appearance. His tie was draped around his neck, sleeves pushed up past his elbows, shirt and pants wrinkled, hair tousled as if from a particularly windy day of Quidditch.

"Want to tell me why you've been going so long?" Katie started, but he didn't give her a chance to put her full amount of scorn and concern into the rebuke before he started kissing her. She was shocked, and he tasted slightly of firewhisky, but she kissed him back anyway.

Before Katie realized what was happening, Oliver had maneuvered them onto the couch and was tugging at her shirt. She unwillingly pulled back. "Ol, we cannot do this."

"Katie, quit being so godamn moral. I'm not about to stay with McLean after what you told me last night. I'm yours and only yours."

"I only meant we can't have sex in the common room." Katie looked at Oliver in a questioning manner. "What are you talking about?"

Oliver didn't bother to answer her. Instead he managed to get both of them up the stairs to the seventh year boys' dormitory. The seventh years' dormitory had a different set-up than the others. Each person got their own room that connected to a bathroom shared with one other room. Katie had been in Oliver's room plenty of times, but never for their current purpose.

Katie woke up the next morning feeling very groggy. She was smiling, but couldn't quite remember why she was so happy. That was when Oliver shifted his hold around her waist and her eyes opened wide in horror.

"Shit." Katie hissed, wriggling out of Oliver's arms. She was going to have to make the walk of shame, but she'd be damned if she'd do it without proper clothes on. Katie searched frantically, but couldn't find her clothes anywhere. Instead, she grabbed a warm-up hoodie with 'WOOD' emblazoned across the back that came down to her knees. Katie had a sinking feeling that Aimee McLean was going to catch her slinking out of Oliver's room. She hoped to God that he had been too drunk to remember the events of the previous night.

"Katie, come back to bed." Oliver groaned, grabbing her wrist as she started for the door and pulling her back toward him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Oliver, do you remember what happened last night?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So I need to book it out of here before your bitch girlfriend comes and murders both of us."

"Not important." Oliver managed to grab Katie around the waist and pulled her back into bed. He hugged her around the waist and kissed her jawline gently. "Go back to sleep."

"I can't."

"Katie. My head is pounding because I was really drunk yesterday and I'm happier than I've been in a really long time. Can you go back to sleep and just trust that everything is going to work out when we wake up again in three hours?"

"No."

"It was worth a shot." Oliver sighed and sat up, pulling Katie into his lap. "Come here and talk to me."

"You're the one who had sex with me because he was drunk." Katie frowned, looking away shamefully. "You do the talking."

"I wasn't drunk when we had sex. Trust me, I had completely sobered up by the time I saw you. I didn't want you to see me drunk and I certainly didn't want to run the risk of not remembering last night. Yesterday afternoon, however, is another story entirely."

"I don't-"

"Kates. Do you remember when I asked you if you loved me? I thought that you were in shock that I would even suggest that we could be more than friends. It wasn't until last night that I realized you were as in love with me as I was with you. When I talked about avoiding those I could fall for, I was talking about you, but I was kidding myself if I thought I hadn't already fallen in love with you. Katie, I've been in love with you since we were kids."

"By "in love" what exactly do you mean?"

"Katie, shut up." Oliver rolled his eyes and kissed her in a way that made it completely clear that they were more than just friends.

"Our mothers are going to have a field day." Katie said while trying and failing to sound disappointed at the prospect. She was grinning from ear to ear without any control over her expression at all. "You realize they're probably going to set a wedding date as soon as they find out."

Oliver kissed all along her jaw, pausing at the spot just behind her ear that made her shiver and then nipping her ear gently. "Let them have their fun."

"Did you still want to go back to sleep?" Katie turned her head so that Oliver's lips caught her own briefly.

"Only if you promise to keep my warm-ups on." Oliver grinned and looked at Katie with undisguised longing. "I never realized a grey sweatshirt could be sexy."

"Yeah, you're going to need some more sleep." Katie snorted. "I think you've gone mental. Alcohol tends to kill brain cells you know."

"Nope," Oliver lay down and wrapped his arms firmly around Katie, pulling her close beside him. "I'm pretty sure I've never been more sane in my life."

As the pair drifted off to sleep neither worried about later in the day, when they would face the world…. and Aimee McLean. They had each other, and Aimee McLean was an idiotic bitch anyway.

_and end. Hope you enjoyed it. I've not been writing that much and this is the only thing I've even come close to finishing in a while. Life finally caught up to me I guess. Maybe soon I'll try making my own characters, but for now I'm enjoying borrowing from others. Not sure what or when I'll get something new up next. We'll just have to see, won't we?_

_Love From,_

_MotherCrumpet_


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